[SERay]

Personally, I am very open minded, so much so that I sometimes scathe precariously close to the edge of accepted orthodox Christianity. Not so much so as to be heretical, but sometimes I raise my own eyebrows. However, there are some teachings that are clearly a grand departure from orthodox Christianity. In my own study, such a teaching to be avoided is preterism.

If you do not know this, the word "preterist" is a grammatical term describing what is "past." Thus, if our interpretation of the Book of Revelation is that most, if not all, the book is fulfilled, we would be "preterists." Or, if our interpretation of the first 34 verses of Matthew 24 saw their fulfillment in the A. D. 70 coming of Christ, we would subscribe to the preterist interpretation.

Preterism, has been reshaped recently, and has emerged that assigns the Second Coming or Parousia of Christ, the general Resurrection, and the Great White Throne Judgment to the past. In other words, there are no future prophetic events or any future hopes. According to this scenario, time will continue on this earth forever. Both sin and the earth are everlasting. At death the soul of the believer passes into the presence of God and the soul of the unbeliever (presumably) to judgment--both to be disembodied spirits forever.

The advocates of these ideas call themselves "consistent preterists" (or full preterists) over against the "inconsistent preterists," who, it is claimed, fail to face the implications of their position. The so-called "consistent preterist" holds that the Second Coming of Christ occurred in A. D. 70, and that the resurrection occurred when Israel was spiritually quickened. Some "consistent preterists" will even claim to be Calvinistic in their soteriology. Consequently, Christians who adhere to the doctrines of grace may be seduced by this amalgamation-doctrine. Preterism threatens to compromise the historic creeds of the church, especially essential Christian teachings as the resurrection.

The cardinal (essential) doctrine of the New Testament is the resurrection of Christ and likewise the saints of the future, which preterism annuls. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Christ be not raised up, our faith is vain, our preaching is vain, and we are of all men most miserable. Paul's thrust is that a dead Christ cannot save and that the church cannot have communion with a Christ who is still in the throes of death.

Christ was raised from the dead in order to justify us ( Rom. 4:25 ). Most significantly, it was by Christ's resurrection that He "was declared to be the Son of God with power. . ." ( Rom. 1:4 ). The resurrection is not only a center stage of Christianity, but the attestation to the Deity of Christ Himself. If there is no resurrection, there is no Christianity. Scripture even teaches that salvation itself is a resurrection ( Jn. 5:24 ). The purpose of Christ's resurrection was to justify the whole man--body and soul. Even the new birth is actually a metaphor for the resurrection instead of the resurrection a metaphor for the new birth. Our labor is based on the bodily resurrection of Christ too.

One preterism writer even tells us that the "hope of the resurrection" is an "empty" hope and an empty expectation, and that with regard to the future the Christian turns over the next leaf "and there is nothing." Amazingly, the followers of preterism have chosen to combat dispensational eschatology with an eschatology that dispenses with eschatology. The "dispensable eschatology" of the preterist also dispenses with the resurrection of the believer's body at Christ's Second Coming. Beginning with the premise that there is only one coming of Christ (A.D. 70) they force all other parousia-texts into an A.D. 70 straitjacket. This forces them to deny the resurrection of the flesh and to question the meaning of 1 Corinthians 15. Scripture teaches that what makes the Second Coming of Christ the "blessed hope" is not a bare, physical coming of our Lord.

Three points are driven by the over arching premise of preterism which is that Christian interpretation & indeed basic Christian understanding has been fundementaly in error for over 2000 years. Some hyperpreterists even claim there has been a 2000 year conspiracy to cover up the the primary points below.
1. Jesus came back once & for all in the year AD70
2. The resurrection of the believers happened in the year AD70.
3. The judgment of the wicked & righteous happened in the year AD70.

Theologian Tom Ice writes: “Because of the current spread of preterism, pastors and teachers need to be prepared to defend orthodox eschatology from this attack.” Dr. David Reagan gives a clear Analysis of the Preterist view, in his article entitled "The Fallacy of Preterism." Prominent "consistent preterists" include Gary DeMar, R.C. Sproul, Ken Gentry, and Hank Hanegraaff. Books such as the Leonards' The Promise of His Coming, or J. Stuart Russell's The Parousia are proponents of this teaching. There is volumes I could write on this subject along, albeit on the whole, it is modern day heresy.

Preterism is not a heresy just because we don’t like it, nor is it a heresy because it is “new”, nor is it a heresy because the majority oppose it. Modern preterism or hyperpreterism is a heresy because it is unlike anything ever taught in the history of Christianity and departs from what Christ and the Apostles taught.